


Tortured

by Princesjules



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 19:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15468912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princesjules/pseuds/Princesjules
Summary: They pressed their luck a little too far this time. Staying behind to get all the files they had accessed on the Galra ship they had infiltrated. The force on the ship was oddly strong, too strong for Lance and Shiro to hold off while the files downloaded.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this almost a year ago for my tumblr, and so it takes place somewhere in season 2, before Shiro dies. So it is Shiro and not the clone. I have also done some editing since I posted this on my tumblr so some parts actually make sense now and the grammatical errors are hopefully gone. 
> 
> Enjoy!

They pressed their luck a little too far this time. Staying behind to get all the files they had accessed on the Galra ship they had infiltrated. The force on the ship was oddly strong, too strong for Lance and Shiro to hold off while the files downloaded. 

It was just a good thing they had left their lions behind and had caught a ride in with Pidge. The green lion was better for stealth missions, and they didn’t need a full battle when all the team needed was more information on where Samuel Holt was being held. 

As Galra forces flooded into the room faster than Lance could pick them off the black and blue paladins knew they were done for. There was no other way out because of how far into the ship they were. There was no way a rescue could happen from where they were. 

There was a silent agreement that happened in a single look between Lance and Shiro. They were going to fight long enough for their team mates to get out safely. No one else needed to join them. Being down two paladins was going to be hard enough, they couldn’t risk loosing lions too. 

“Pidge go, we’re over run,” Shiro said, as he was grabbed by half a dozen Galra and shoved to his knees. 

“No, I’m not leaving you two,” Pidge shouts, but only half was heard by Lance or Shiro. 

Both paladins had been grabbed and their helmets had been removed. So they no longer could communicate with the others. It was smart on the Galra’s part, but it was not what the paladins had wanted in that moment.

Shiro was all but pinned to the ground, with Galra on top of him keeping him down. He didn’t give up his fight, but there was only so much he could do pinned to the floor with his arms behind his back. 

Lance on the other hand was only on his knees, but he couldn’t fight either. The way his arms were being held behind his back he would either break one or dislocate his shoulder if he tried to fight the grip. The blue paladin’s body was being contorted in ways it should not be able to bend, so fighting it would only do damage. Having already taking a shot to his leg more injuries would make him even more useless than he already thought he was. 

“Champion, you’ve returned,” Haggar sneered as she stepped into the room. And suddenly the number of Galra soldiers on the ship made sense. 

Shiro tried to fight off the soldiers pinning him to the floor, to no success. The most he got was one knee tucked up under his torso, which only caused him pain when he was shoved down on it. And Lance was in too much pain to even try fighting back. 

“I have plans for these two. Get them ready for me,” Haggar ordered, walking right back out of the room. 

Before either paladin could react to the witches words needles were pushed into both of their necks. Seconds later they were both going limp and Lance was dropped. 

Shiro woke first. He was belted to the wall, three inch wide metal bands crisscrossed his entire body, securing him to the wall. All he could do was turn his head, and wiggle a little bit. 

After realizing he couldn’t move he began to look around. Trying to take in his surroundings and maybe find a way out. He was also looking for Lance, hoping he hadn’t been separated from the blue paladin. 

The room he was in was small and completely empty. The only thing of note was that the wall straight across from him was made of glass, showing the next room over. In the other room was Lance, strapped to a table like Shiro once had been.

Lance was still unconscious and his arms were spread and strapped down away from his torso. Seeing his friend in that position worried Shiro, because of what had happened to him the last time he was imprisoned by the Galra. 

“Champion, I see you’re awake,” Haggar said, though Shiro could not see the witch. 

Haggar was in the same room as Lance, just to the right of the glass. Purposefully staying out of Shiro’s line of sight. 

At that moment Lance was waking up. He too could only move his head, but he could not move his body at all, not even his fingers or toes. The thing that threw him off was that he could feel things, could feel the tight metal straps on his bare skin, but he couldn’t even tense a single muscle that was below his neck. 

“Blue paladin, I’m going to have some fun with you,” Haggar cackled and stepped up to Lance’s side. From there Shiro could see her, but Lance couldn’t. 

The witch put her hand on Lance’s arm and just a bare touch caused him pain. Haggar smiled to herself as the blue paladin winced, then howled in pain as she pinched him. It felt like a knife was being stabbed into Lance’s arm rather than a nail. 

“Don’t touch him!” Shiro screamed, fighting harder against his binds to no avail. 

“I have plans for you Paladin,” Haggar said again and stepped away, leaving both paladins to sit alone in their respective rooms. 

 

It was less than an hour before Haggar returned to the room Lance was in, but for the paladins if felt like hours. When she returned the witch was not alone. She had ten other Galra with her, and they rolled small tables with medical tools closer to Lance as they surrounded the table he was strapped to. 

“Don’t touch him,” Shiro begged, having spent the entire time Haggar was gone screaming for Lance. 

Being surrounded by so many Galra with medical tools freaked Lance out, because he could guess where things were going. Some of them began to lightly touch different points on his body and his skin burned. 

He didn’t see as one of the Galra near his legs got a nod from Haggar, but he felt as the scalpel their in hand cut into his right leg. Having already taken a shot to that leg it was just searing pain. Only amplified ten fold by the drugs Haggar had given the blue paladin that made every touch feel like pain. 

As the blade pressed into him Lance screamed at the top of his lungs. He had never experienced so much pain in his life. 

“How does it feel Champion?” Knowing you can do nothing?” Haggar asked, turning to the glass; “This is happening because you left us.”

“Let him go you witch. If you have to hurt one of us do it to me instead. Just stop hurting him,” Shiro shouted. 

Somehow in the midst of searing pain Lance heard Champion and connected the dots back to something Shiro had been called once. It took him close to a minute to process, but realization dawned on him that Shiro was around because someone was talking to him. 

“Shiro! Shiro!” Lance cried, trying to find anything to focus on that wasn’t the searing pain in his leg. 

Shiro could hear Lance’s cries. Could hear him clear as day. Could hear the agony in his voice, but could do nothing about it. He was just as trapped as Lance, but he’d rather be the one under the knife so his team didn’t have to suffer. 

The black paladin had closed his eyes, and turned his head away from the glass. Seeing Lance being tortured was possibly the worst thing in the universe – even after all he’d been through – because he was in that position because of Shiro. Hearing Lance’s cries was just as hard to take, but he could do nothing to muffle the cries. 

Lance’s cries had quieted to whimpers after ten minutes, and Haggar was not going to allow that. She wanted the black paladin to suffer, and if the blue paladin was not going to cry out she was going to make the torture harder to take. 

Silently she ordered one of the other Galra around Lance, one by his left arm, to open the arm up. As expected the second blade was hard to ignore. Once again Lance howled in pain. 

“Shiro, it hurts,” Lance cried out, wishing he could make it stop hurting. 

That broke Shiro’s heart. Lance was the jokester, he uplifted the team – even when he got on their nerves sometimes. He was the joy of the group, and frequently the light in the darkness. Hearing him in pain was worse than seeing him unconscious after the explosion in the castle, because Shiro was helpless to do anything to help. He couldn’t protect his team mate. He couldn’t protect his friend. 

“Lance, I’m sorry,” Shiro said, though he knew he couldn’t be heard by Lance. 

For the eight or ninth time since he had woken up Shiro activated his arm. He was trying to break the restraints again. It wasn’t working, like it hadn’t worked the other seven or eight times he had tried before. He hadn’t expected it to work, but he had to try. For Lance. 

Things continued like that for about an hour. When Lance stopped responding to the pain Hagar stopped. She wasn’t getting what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to waste time if she wasn’t also hurting Shiro with Lance’s pain. 

The torture wasn’t over though. It was just paused until Lance had rested. While that was happening both paladins were put under. Destroying whatever sense of time they were trying to keep. 

Everything became only pain and unconsciousness in a seemingly endless loop.


	2. Chapter 2

Twenty-seven rounds of torture and unconsciousness later Lance was done. His spirit was crushed. His whole body was in a constant state of pain. 

Neither of the paladins were sure how either of them were still alive. For all Lance knew Shiro wasn’t alive anymore. Haggar had stopped taunting Shiro while she was in with Lance and the blue paladin hadn’t heard the black paladin’s voice once since they were captured. 

Lance held out for a lot longer than Shiro had expected, and he was proud the other man had such a strong will to live, But there came a point where it was too much and holding out that long had some serious consequences. Haggar was sadistic and for the first few rounds held nothing back if it mean hurting Shiro with Lance’s screams. 

Tissue death was not something anyone had been concerned about, until it happened. Below the elbow of Lance’s left arm was as good as gone. Haggar had ordered so much done to that appendage because it made Lance scream the loudest, until he stopped screaming all together. 

At first it was alright, for Lance at least. Until Haggar realized Lance was not feeling anything. She moved on after that, leaving the arm attached, but useless. From then on she was more careful not to ruin another limb, she wanted Lance to feel all the pain she was inflicting on him. 

On the twenty-eight time he was woken up Lance was ready to give up. He’d accepted that he wasn’t going to be rescued and he was prepared to die. 

For the first time since he had been captured Lance saw Haggar. She walked around Lance’s outstretched arm to stand right above his head. She looked dead ahead at Shiro, not that the black paladin could really tell with her hood up. 

“Oh Champion. Your blue paladin seems ready to give in,” Haggar said, grabbing Lance’s head in her hands. 

Lance was staring up at the ceiling through glassy eyes, just trying not to cry. He didn’t want to be crying as he died. He wanted to at least seem stronger than he felt if it was his last moments. 

“Shiro,” Lance whispered, a little bit of hope restored in Lance’s heart hearing that Shiro was still alive. 

It wasn’t much, but enough to keep him going a little longer. Long enough to voice something he’d kept hidden for so long because he didn’t know how to say it. Apparently on his death bed Lance found the right words. 

“Shiro, I’ve admired you for quite a while. At first it was only because you were such a great pilot, but even that’s changed. For years at home I wanted to be just like you, but since we’ve come to space I’ve realized it’s more than admiration, or a teenage crush. I’m in love with you,” Lance began, closing his eyes to tune out everything else as best he could. “I know you’re with Keith and I never wanted to get in the way of your happiness, but I need you to know because I can’t do this forever. I’m not strong. And if you ever get to see Keith again, if you’re even still alive, tell him I love him too. I only fought with him so I could have a fragment of hit attention. I’ve had feelings for him since we both started at the Garrison, but I was too scared to say anything because he was such a great pilot, just like you.”

As Lance trailed off suddenly everything lurched, from an explosion. The scalpel that was in Lance’s leg was stabbed deeper into his skin and he screamed. 

The Galra and Haggar fled from the room, before any more happened. The Galra that had jabbed the scalpel into Lance’s leg just left it there. 

Less than a minute later the glass at Lance’s feet was shattered and Lance flinched. He expected more pain to come. 

“Lance!” Shiro shouted, still strapped to the wall, but being cut free by Keith. 

“What happened to you?” Hunk asked warily as he cut Lance out of his restraints. 

Knowing he was safe, and that he was back with his friends Lance relaxed. He didn’t have to fight anymore. He wasn’t on his own just enduring anymore. His friends were there to save him. They could fight for him now. Before he was fully released Lance fell unconscious again, but there was no pain on his face. 

The second Shiro was off the wall he stumbled over to Lance. From being strapped to the wall for so long he had very little coordination. That didn’t stop the black paladin, he had an overwhelming need to see Lance, to make sure he was still alive. 

“We’ve got to go,” Keith said, coming up behind Shiro. 

“Lance’s Bayard? We can’t loose a second one,” Shiro asked, already lifting their unconscious comrade. Not giving a second thought to the fact that he had just been restrained against a wall and could barely walk a moment ago. Saving Lance was too big a priority and Shiro was the only one there that could really lift Lance’s unconscious weight. 

“Found it last week on the ship you two had been captured on,” Keith said, falling behind Shiro to watch their backs as they headed back to where Pidge was waiting with Green. 

It didn’t take long. Not with Hunk in the lead, picking off everyone that got in their way, long before they could be a real problem. His best friend needed him and the yellow paladin would let nothing get in their way. 

Once they got in Green Shiro sat down and held Lance. He was careful not to jostle him too much, afraid that Lance would be hurt more. But fleeing from the Galra and dodging fire had everyone shifting everywhere. 

There was talking all around him, but Shiro heard none of it. His sole focus was making sure Lance was still breathing. They hadn’t held out this long for Lance to die just as they were going to reach safety. 

When Pidge got them back to the castle Shiro all but ran to get Lance to a healing Pod. The others went to hold off the Galra fleet while Allura made a worm hole to get them out of there. 

Things began to blur for Shiro and time seemed to skip. One second he was holding Lance, then next he was looking at the blue paladin in the healing pod. Then Coran was checking him over, to make sure he hadn’t been hurt. Then he was laying in his bed, and if felt like he blinked and Keith was asleep beside him, arms locked around Shiro’s waist. 

Time had no meaning for a while. There were moments Shiro could remember, and there was stuff in between that he couldn’t. Two days went by like that before Shiro came back to himself fully. 

He spent a lot of time waiting for Lance to come out of the healing pod. Even though Lance was in the healing pod Shiro was not confident he would ever speak to the brunette again. With all the blue paladin had been through Shiro would not blame him if he never woke up, Shiro just hoped that wouldn’t be the case. 

Shiro desperately wanted to talk to Lance about what he had said right before they were rescued. Had he really meant what he said, or was he just saying it because he thought he was going to die? 

In that time he also talked with Keith. They’d both talked before about their interest in Lance. Keith had admitted that he had a crush on the blue paladin from when they were back in the Garrison. When they all got to the castle of Lions Shiro realized why Lance appealed to Keith back on Earth..

They had never said or done anything to pursue Lance before because they thought nothing would come of it. Lance was a flirt. He flirted with all the girls at the Garrison and just about every female seeming – by Earth standards – alien they had come across. Which led to the assumption that Lance was straight. By his confession he wasn’t solely interested in women. 

The black paladin told Keith what Lance had said while they waited for Lance to wake up. They’d spent almost the whole time sitting on the stairs across from Lance’s healing pod, so they would be able to see any change in Lance. The whole time they talked Shiro’s eyes never left the brunette while his arm wound tightly around his boyfriends waist. 

“So, what should we do with that information?” Keith asked, gazing at the blue paladin too. 

“I’m not really sure. I don’t want to do anything we’re not both invested in,” Shiro said. 

“But?” Keith asked, sensing there was more. 

“But I want to try. There’s feelings between all of us and I don’t want to ignore those,” Shiro sighed, resting his head on top of Keith’s head. 

“Then we’ll talk to Lance when he wakes up. See what he thinks and go from there. That way we’re all deciding together and being heard. As long as you’re okay letting him in, because I know I am,” Keith said. 

“Yes, I want to be with you both,” Shiro said. 

It was easy to agree to wait for Lance. He had just as much say in what would become of their relationship. Then they just sat together and waited for Lance to finish in the healing pod, so they could all talk.


	3. Chapter 3

When Lance’s healing pod opened up Shiro scrambled forward to catch Lance. He wasn’t fast enough though and Lance collapsed on himself, having not even taken a step out of the healing pod. Having not moved for an unknown amount of time – to him – Lance’s muscles had not been prepared to immediately support all his weight.

“Lance, hey how do you feel?” Shiro asked, picking the blue paladin up and moving him to the stairs. 

“Exhausted, sore and it’s still hard to move,” Lance said, leaning on Shiro for support. 

“Take your time,” Keith said, sitting on Lance’s other side. Keith grabbed lance’s left hand, not knowing the blue paladin couldn’t feel it. 

Lance nodded, slowly trying to move. He took his time to test every muscle and no one blamed him. He’d been on a table for a long time and moving again felt really good. 

Over the course of about half an hour everybody came through to check on Lance and were all happily surprised to find him out of the healing pod and doing well. He was doing much better than anyone had really anticipated, which made them each smile. 

Aside from his left arm Lance was doing alright. All his cuts had been healed by the pod and turned into scars. He was just terrified of mentioning the persistent lack of feeling in his left arm. 

“How are you Shiro?” Lance asked, able to sit up more or less on his own. He wasn’t quite ready to try standing though, still not trusting his own ability to support his weight. 

“I’m sorry Lance. They didn’t touch me at all. Haggar hurt you to mess with my head. It’s all my fault you got hurt,” Shiro explained, looking at the floor so he didn’t have to see Lance’s reaction. 

“It’s fine. I got to protect you for once,” The blue paladin cheered – or at least tried to sound chipper – smiling at Shiro though he wasn’t looking. 

“Why don’t we go somewhere more comfortable to sit. These stairs were definitely not meant to be sat on for hours on end,” Keith said and stood up, offering his hands to Lance. 

“Good idea Keith,” Shiro said, grabbing one of the offered hand to pull himself up. 

Lance tried to do the same with just his right hand, but it turned out Lance wasn’t strong enough to do that yet. 

“Give me your other hand and I’ll pull you up,” Keith said, offering his other hand and waited for Lance. 

The blue paladin let go of Keith’s hand and looked down at the ground. Keith was confused, but Shiro understood. 

“The healing pod didn’t help your arm did it?” Shiro asked, putting a hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance shook his head. 

“I still can’t feel anything below my elbow, and I can’t seem to move it either. I thought maybe when I got out of the healing pod, or when the stiffness in my joints went away I’d be able to, but I guess not,” Lance sighed. 

“I’ll go get Coran,” Keith said, running off before anyone could stop him. 

Shiro sat back down beside Lance, guilt eating away at him. It was about a minute after Keith left before Lance started talking again, asking questions.

“How long were we gone for?” Lance avoided looking at Shiro as he spoke; “Has anyone told you yet?” 

“Allura said about fifteen varga,” Shiro said, which was about as clear as mud to Lance. He had yet to figure out the whole Altean time system. Before he could be asked to Shiro clarified in a unit of time Lance would understand; “We were there a little over two weeks.”

“It felt like a lot longer,” Lance said, finally understanding why Keith wanted to get up. The stairs were really uncomfortable. 

He didn’t want to ask for help, not wanting to feel absolutely useless, so he tried to stand up on his own. All the blue paladin managed to do was throw himself off balance and Shiro had to catch him before he fell. 

“Maybe standing on your own isn’t the best idea yet,” Shiro said. 

“I want to go see blue,” Lance said, wanting to be away from the others, but to scared to actually be alone. Going to blue was the best compromise he could come up with. 

“Why don’t you wait until Coran looks at your arm first? So we know if there’s anything we can do to fix it,” Shiro suggested. 

“Alright, but can you help me stand? I don’t want to sit here anymore,” Lance begged. 

Shiro agreed without a second thought and got back up. He grabbed Lance under both his arms and pulled him to his feet, without doing anything that may do further damage to Lance’s arm. 

With the way Lance swayed when he was on his feet it was clear he could not walk on his own yet. Just spending time in the healing pod would not fix muscle tissue that had been rendered unable to move for weeks. The only thing that would heal that was moving around and being able to work his muscles again.

Keith returned without Coran a few minutes later. Coran had said he’d find them when he was done with Pidge, but that they should probably go eat something, because it had been a while since Lance had eaten last. 

With help from Shiro and Keith at his sides Lance was able to walk to the kitchen. The men on either side of him acted as balances and caught him when his weight seemed to become too much for his own legs. 

Hunk was in the kitchen when they got there, cooking dinner for everyone, and stopped his work to hug Lance. He was so happy to see his best friend back on his feet, no matter how unsteady he was. The yellow paladin also put together some of what he was making out of the food goo for Lance to eat. 

Coran showed up just as Lance was finishing his food. He immediately went to the blue paladin and checked out his arm. The verdict was not good. With no feeling and the inability to move the appendage there was no saving it. The nerves had been killed by whatever drugs Lance was given, and the muscles had not only been rendered useless by the drugs, but most of them were cut and pulled beyond repair. 

Lance was going to loose his arm below the elbow, there was nothing the Altean could do to fix it. 

Learning he would have to loose his arm crushed Lance, and he really wanted to be alone with Blue. 

Coran fashioned a sling to support Lance’s arm and not do more damage to his upper arm until the arm could be removed. Then Hunk took Lance down to see his lion. 

As soon as Lance and Hunk got to the hanger Blue lay down and opened up for Lance. Hunk helped his best friend to the opening and trusted that Lance could get where he wanted to be. 

It took longer than normal, but once he got to Blue’s cockpit Lance just sat down. He didn’t say or do anything, just sat with Blue and took everything in. 

Meanwhile Shiro went in search of Pidge. He’d heard what Coran had said, and Shiro blamed himself. If Lance had been captured with anyone else he wouldn’t have been tortured, but because he was with Shiro Haggar used him to torture the black paladin – her former Champion.

The black paladin was determined to make it up to Lance. His first thought was to go to their resident technological genius to see about making a prosthetic. 

Talking for a bit they realized they needed Hunk to help too. But they also started planning. If it took everything he had Shiro was going to make it up to Lance for being the reason he was going to loose his arm.


	4. Chapter 4

When it was time for dinner Shiro went to retrieve Lance. It took surprisingly no coaxing to get Blue to open up for the black paladin. Though when he found Lance asleep in his lion it made sense. 

For a brief moment Shiro thought about carrying Lance to his room to sleep. He quickly thought better of it. Unsure of what waking up in another room than where he fell asleep would do. 

Instead he decided to wake the blue paladin up. Shiro didn’t want to frighten him though, so he knelt down on Lance’s right side and put his flesh hand on Lance’s shoulder. 

“Lance, it’s time to get up. You fell asleep in Blue,” Shiro said, giving his shoulder a little shake. 

Even taking precautions Lance was still startled when he woke up, so he shoved the hand on his shoulder off. He was slightly disoriented and felt the need to defend himself. 

“Get off,” Lance said, reaching for the Bayard that was not there. 

“It’s just me Lance. It’s Shiro. You’re safe, we’re inside Blue,” Shiro rattled off, trying to calm his friend. 

Lance didn’t comprehend what he had heard right away, so he took a swing at Shiro. It wasn’t until he turned in his seat and saw the white forelock on Shiro’s head that Lance realized he wasn’t a threat. 

The blue paladin sank back in his seat and drew his knees back to his chest. Overcome with guilt for taking a swing at the black paladin. 

“Sorry,” Lance sighed, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead to his knees. 

“I understand,” Shiro said and put his hand on Lance’s shoulder again; “Did you want to go get some dinner?” 

“Not hungry,” Lance mumbled. 

“Do you want to go lay down in your room then?” Shiro asked. 

Lance shook his head and said; “I don’t want to be alone. The thought scares me. At least here I have Blue.”

Shiro’s heart hurt, because he knew the feeling. Knew the fear of what may come out of the shadows when he was alone. Knew the feeling of being exhausted, but not wanting to sleep so he didn’t have to relive the pain. 

The only consolation was that Shiro could protect himself. Had some layer of safety from his fears. He had Keith by his side, to go to when he felt vulnerable. 

Lance didn’t have that. He’d lost his arm and could barely walk. He was completely vulnerable with no one to turn to like Shiro did. 

“Why don’t we watch a movie in the common room? That way we won’t be alone,” Shiro suggested. 

“Yea, that sounds good,” Lance said, putting his feet back on the floor. 

The black paladin helped his friend up and together they walked to the common room. Shiro kept his hands on Lance’s back, to help the blue paladin with his balance and to catch him if he started to fall. 

While Shiro set up a movie Lance curled up on the couch. Using his knees as a headrest, with his good arm wrapped around his shins. He also tucked himself on the end of the couch, farthest from the door. 

Shiro was conflicted. He wanted to sit next to Lance in hopes of making him feel not so alone. But he and Keith had yet to talk to Lance and didn’t want to push things that weren’t there. So he sat on the couch closest to Lance, trying to find a happy medium. 

About ten minutes into the movie Keith walked in, with two plates of food. He gave one to each of the men in the room and sat down beside Shiro. 

“Everyone else is working on different projects, so I thought I’d bring you both dinner,” Keith said, leaning into Shiro’s side. 

“Thanks,” Shiro whispered and kissed Keith’s temple. 

Silence fell, the only sound in the room the movie. Shiro ate the food he was given, but Lance left his plate on the couch beside him, not hungry. 

Halfway through the movie Lance fell asleep again. Keith moved his plate before the blue paladin fell into his own food. 

“Should we talk to him soon?” Keith asked. 

“Tomorrow. I don’t want to wake him up again. He needs to rest,” Shiro said and stood up. He grabbed both plates and headed to the kitchen. While Keith headed to his room to get ready for bed. 

Shiro felt guilty for leaving Lance on the couch, but didn’t want to move him. Conflicted once again, he went back to the common room to lay a blanket over Lance and take the sling off of him. It was the best he could do without risking frightening the blue paladin, but he wished he could do more. 

The next morning Lance was the first one to wake up, and didn’t want to be alone. He wanted to at least be in a place he would see his fellow paladins when they woke. 

Even though he didn’t quite trust his legs Lance got to his feet, after putting his arm back in the sling. Crossing the common room turned out to be the biggest challenge. It got easier once he got to the hall and there was a wall to lean against. 

He didn’t fall, but he came close a few times. Lance was able to make it to the kitchen, and was greeted by Hunk a few minutes later. 

“He buddy. How ya feeling?” Hunk asked, getting started on breakfast. 

“I don’t know. Out of it still. I don’t feel like myself,” Lance admitted, staring down at the floor. 

“There anything I can do to help?” 

Lance shook his head. He didn’t know why he felt the way he did, asking for help wasn’t going to change that. 

“If you come up with something let me know,” Hunk said before giving Lance a hug. “I don’t like seeing you like this.” 

“Thanks Hunk. Means a lot,” Lance said, clinging to his best friend for a long time. 

They stayed like that until Keith walked in. Lance kept his eyes on the ground, trying to avoid looking at the shirtless red paladin. 

Keith grabbed the Altean equivalent of coffee and hopped up onto the counter. He didn’t say anything, he just drank his space coffee. 

Shiro came in, hair wet from a shower fifteen minutes later. He immediately went to Keith and gave him a kiss. 

Coran came in a few minutes later. His usual happy and excited mood was gone. He was very serious as he walked to where Lance had taken a seat. 

“The Princess and I spoke. Now is as good a time as any to take care of your arm if you’re ready,” Coran said. 

“Yea, sure. I’m ready I guess,” Lance sighed, giving a shrug. 

“I’ll go get everything set up. Come join me in half a varga,” Coran said and headed out of the kitchen. 

Lance immediately began to spin into his own head. Worrying.

Across the kitchen Shiro and Keith began to whisper to each other. 

“Do you want to talk to him now?” Keith asked. 

“Yea, it might make all this easier on him,” Shiro said, stepping back so Keith could hop off the counter. 

They walked over to Lance together and waited for him to notice them. They waited for Lance to say something, but he seemed to be looking right through them. The plan was to wait for Lance, but Shiro saw tears threatening to fall from the blue paladin’s eyes. So he put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and almost made the man nearly jump out of his skin. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Shiro asked, genuinely worried about Lance’s well being. 

He was about to go into surgery. That was a huge step, and Lance was scared. 

“Fine,” Lance squeaked, heart nearly beating out of his chest. 

“You’re scared,” Keith stated, an observation. 

Lance heard it as an accusation and had to deny Keith’s claims. Even though the red paladin was right. Lance was scared of loosing his arm, even if it was dead. 

“What? No! I’m not scared of anything,” Lance retorted, looking away from Keith. 

“It’s okay to be scared,” Keith said, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder.   
“But I’m not,” Lance lied, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. 

“Wait, stop fighting. We want to talk, about something else entirely. Can we talk? Or would you rather do it after you go see Coran?” Shiro asked breaking up the fight. 

“Now I guess,” Lance said with a shrug. 

A moment later a sleepy Pidge walked in. They walked over to Hunk and hopped up onto the counter. 

“Maybe we could go somewhere a little more private,” Keith suggested.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple minutes later they were all in the common room. Keith and Shiro sitting across from Lance, not wanting to crowd his space. With the conversation they wanted to have, they figured it was best to give Lance his space. At least until the Blue paladin didn’t want the space between them anymore. 

“Do you remember what you said right before we were rescued?” Shiro asked. 

Lance’s heart sunk and his gaze immediately dropped to his lap. Avoiding looking at the couple in front of him at all costs. The blue paladin was ashamed of what he had admitted when he thought he was as good as dead, but he didn’t regret saying it. 

“I remember,” Lance whispered; “And I’m sorry for saying anything. I didn’t think I’d ever see you guys again.” 

That shook the couple in front of him. Had Lance not meant what he said? Had he only said it because he thought he was dying? Those thoughts all started running through Shiro’s mind.

“Did you mean what you said? Do you really have a crush on both of us?” Shiro asked, choosing every word carefully. 

“I mean... yea. I have feelings for you both, and I’m sorry for creating a mess. Just forget I ever said it. It doesn’t even matter,” Lance sighed, voice a little stronger. Trying to make what he had said in desperation go away. 

“What if I don’t want to forget?” Shiro asked, standing up. “What if it does matter?” 

As he spoke Shiro crossed the room to sit beside Lance and put a hand on his knee. Keith joined them, grabbing Lance’s good hand. 

“What?” Lance asked, at a loss for what to say.

“We want you to go out with us, to be our boyfriend or something else if you’d prefer,” Keith said, his nerves finally showing. 

Lance was speechless. He could only look back and forth between both men, his mouth agape. 

“You don’t have to answer now. You can take as long as you need to decide,” Shiro said. 

“You guys want me? Even though I’m busted up and broken?” Lance asked after a long moment. 

“Of course,” Shiro answered as if it was the easiest thing in the Universe.

“Who here isn’t a little broken?” Keith asked. 

Lance smiled. Really smiled for the first time since he’d been rescued. The blue paladin hadn’t smiled that brightly since the last time he’d seen his family. 

For a brief moment there was no other place in the universe he’d rather be. 

When the half an hour was up Shiro and Keith walked with Lance to where Coran had set up a make shift operating room. Shiro held Lance’s good hand and Keith had his arm wrapped around his newest boyfriend’s back. 

It wasn’t until the blue paladin saw Coran setting things up around a table for the surgery that he started to feel scared. His already slow pace slowed even further, and his grip on Shiro’s hand got tighter. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Shiro asked, stopping them all. 

Lance nodded, not wanting to admit he was scared. Scared of a table no less. It was only because he had barely gotten off of one. 

He trusted Coran though. He trusted that Coran would only help him. That the Altean man was trying to take care of him. Unfortunately none of that erased his fears. 

“You’re not okay,” Keith said, stepping up in front of Lance. “Are you in pain? Does something hurt?” 

“No,” Lance said shaking his head. “Nothing hurts. I’m fine. 

The blue paladin’s voice cracked when he said he was fine. It was a dead giveaway that something was bothering him. 

“Maybe don’t lie to us because then we can’t help you,” Keith snapped. 

Lance recoiled rather than fighting back, because he didn’t have any fight in him. 

Shiro looked at Keith, going to question his actions, until he saw passed Keith’s shoulder to where Coran was setting up. Things fell into place from there. 

“I understand, you don’t need to explain anything,” Shiro said. “Just remember, Coran’s not going to hurt you, and we’ll be there when you’re done.” 

“I know I’m safe, but it reminds me...” Lance trailed off, not wanting to admit his fears. 

“We’ll stay with you the whole time if you want,” Shiro said, putting his hand on Lance’s hip. 

Lance nodded, not expecting how much better that offer made him feel. It made walking into the room and laying down on the table much easier. 

As Coran removed the sling and stretched his arm out Lance clutched Shiro’s hand. He kept his eyes on Keith, who was right beside Shiro. 

It was Keith who had said it was alright to be scared. Keith and Shiro would help him get through it, and would give him the strength to fight his fears. 

Coran made him drink something to put him to sleep. It worked, but as he started to fall unconscious Lance tensed up again, fighting it. The memories of pain and unconsciousness still tied together tightly in his mind. 

“Lance, it’s okay. You’re safe with us, remember. Coran won’t hurt you, and we’ll be right here when you wake up,” Shiro assured as his hand was squeezed tightly. 

“The faster you get through this the sooner I’ll be able to kick your butt in training,” Keith remarked, trying to distract Lance from his fears. 

“You wish. I can beat you with one arm tied behind my back,” Lance countered like usual, not thinking twice about what he said. 

“Then get through this and show me. Sharpshooter,” Keith said fondly and kissed Lance’s temple. Seconds later the blue paladin was out.


	6. Chapter 6

The first face Lance saw was Keith’s. When the red paladin saw the brunettes eyes start to flutter open he leaned closer. 

“Keith,” Lance said, his voice was weak from being put under. 

“Hi, how do you feel?” Keith asked, putting his hand on Lance’s face so he couldn’t turn to look at his left arm until he was fully awake and prepared for it. 

“Tired, and my heads kinda fuzzy too,” Lance said, having to force his eyes open every time he blinked. 

“Take your time,” Shiro said, placing his hand on Lance’s knee. 

Lance nodded and closed his eyes again. Shiro had let go of Lance’s hand while he was out, so the blue paladin began to grab at the air for a hand. He found Keith’s knee and immediately his boyfriend grabbed his hand. 

“Don’t worry. We’re not going anywhere,” Keith said, giving Lance’s hand a squeeze. 

It took about ten minutes for Lance to wake up fully. When he opened his eyes Keith smiled and gave the brunettes hand a squeeze. 

“Can I sit up? I don’t like laying here,” Lance asked, biting his bottom lip. 

“If you think you can sit up without falling,” Shiro said, standing up. 

Lance nodded and started to sit up. Keith and Shiro both helped him sit up. Once he was upright Lance was able to keep balanced, even with Keith keeping his focus off his left arm. 

“Lance my boy. I need you to do a few things for me, so I can check your arm,” Coran said, stepping up beside Keith so Lance could see him. 

“Can I see?” The blue paladin asked, starting to worry why he wasn’t allowed to see himself. 

“When Coran’s done okay? He asked Shiro and I to keep your from looking for a few minutes,” Keith explained, running his thumb across Lance’s cheek. 

It was only about two minutes that Coran needed Lance. Testing the blue paladin’s range of motion and feeling, in the remaining portion of his arm. All Lance’s responses were better than Coran had expected. 

When he was done Coran stepped back, giving the boys a moment while staying close just in case. Keith let his hand on Lance’s cheek. Immediately the blue paladin looked at his arm. 

“Quiznak... a lot’s gone,” Lance said, trying to touch the bandages. 

“Don’t touch those,” Shiro said, grabbing Lance’s hand. 

“How long will it take for this to heal up?” Lance asked, eyes not leaving the bandages on his arm. 

“A few varga in the healing pod should do,” Coran answered. 

“I don’t want to loose another day. Can I wait until everyone goes to bed?” Lance asked, squeezing Shiro’s hand. 

“Sure, but take it easy today,” Coran agreed. 

“We’ll make sure of it,” Shiro said. 

Keith and Shiro had already decided – while Lance was out – that Lance deserved to be taken care of. Deciding they were going to pamper their new boyfriend, just as much as Lance enjoyed pampering himself. 

They took him back to his own room. Shiro held Lance in hi his lap while Keith went in search of a face mask for Lance. 

“You guys don’t have to stay with me,” Lance said looking over his shoulder. 

“We do, otherwise this wouldn’t be a date,” Shiro said, kissing Lance’s cheek. 

“Date?” 

“Yea stupid. This is a date,” Keith said, kneeling on the bed and kissed Lance.


	7. Chapter 7

As promised Keith and Shiro spoiled Lance all day. They helped him do a mask. Made sure he ate properly, since he had eaten little the night before and nothing since he woke up. They helped him get cleaned up and managed to figure out how the pool worked. 

Keith gave him a massage. Shiro and Keith made sure Lance was relaxed and that his day was good, despite knowing he had to go back into the healing pod. 

Lance really enjoyed it, and the whole day was good for him. It really cheered him up, and at times made him forget what happened. Lance was glad he had his boyfriends. 

When the time came Keith and Shiro walked Lance to the healing pod like they were walking him home. It was sweet and Lance was grateful. 

“Thanks for walking with me. You didn’t have to,” Lance said. 

Coran had set the pod up for when Lance was ready. It was getting late, so it was time to get in and for Keith and Shiro to go to bed. 

“Yes, we did have to walk you. That’s what good boyfriends do,” Keith said, and turned to face Lance. 

Shiro kept Lance’s hand in his as he stepped up beside Keith. He smiled, happy to see Lance was smiling. He was glad to see his boyfriend had enjoyed the day of pampering after surgery. 

“I should actually get in the pod before Coran kills me,” Lance said, pulling his hand from Shiro’s. 

Shiro took a step forward and caught Lance’s wrist before he could get in the pod. Shiro pulled the blue paladin tight to his chest and leaned down. 

“Keith got to kiss you earlier and I didn’t,” he said. 

“So what are you waiting for?” Lance asked, starting to return to his flirty self. That was enough for Shiro, who didn’t hesitate to kiss Lance. 

When it was over Lance lay his head on Shiro’s chest. He didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to deal with his arm, but he didn’t have a choice. It would have been easier if Shiro had not stopped him, but Lance was grateful he did. 

“If we’re not here when you get out come find us. No matter what time it is okay? Shiro said, rubbing Lance’s back. 

Lance nodded against his chest, still not wanting to move. Feeling left out of the little hug Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist and joined them. A silent reminder to Lance that he was there for Lance too. 

After a few minutes Lance realized he was just stalling. He pulled away from Keith and Shiro, said goodnight and stepped into the pod. 

Sometime in the middle of the night cycle Lance’s pod opened. He felt significantly stronger than the last time he had woken up from the pod, but he still stumbled forward a few steps. 

He hadn’t expected to wake up so soon, but his arm was fully healed. The places Coran had stitched up looked like years old scars. It made him look like he had been missing the lower part of his arm for a good chunk of his life instead of less than a day. 

With no indication of what time it was, Lance headed to his room. He didn’t want to bother anyone on the middle of the night. But walking through the castle ship halls in the middle of the night was frightening. 

By the time Lance got to his room he didn’t want to be alone. He still didn’t want to bother anyone though, even if he was told to. 

Somehow he managed to get to his room and changed into his pyjamas, and robe. When Lance sat down on his bed his heart rate picked up and so did his breathing – to near hyperventilation. 

Just the thought of going to sleep alone in his room was somehow terrifying. More terrifying than walking through the dark hallways of the castle ship. 

Lance was safe though, and realistically he knew that. The castle ship was safe. His room was safe. Nothing could hurt him. 

He was scared though. Scared he’d wake up back on the galra ship. That he would still be trapped and unable to move on that table. Scared that he had conjured everything good that was happening in his mind as a way to cope. 

On the thought alone of being unable to move again Lance felt to the need to get up. He scrambled to his feet and was at Shiro’s door in the blink of an eye. 

The blue paladin didn’t want to just walk in. So he lightly knocked on the door – hands shaking. As he waited Lance’s head was on a swivel. The longer he was alone the more he got inside his own head, causing more fear. 

When the door in front of him slid open Lance all but screamed in terror. He recognized the white bangs and threw himself at Shiro, latching on to him as tightly as he could. 

“Whoa, Lance. What’s wrong?” Shiro asked, shocked by the sudden hug. 

“Dark... Can’t... Alone,” Lance mumbled into Shiro’s chest. 

“Okay, come lay down with us,” Shiro said, taking slow steps backwards towards the bed. 

Keith was still on the bed, half asleep and confused. He propped himself up on his elbow trying to focus on Shiro and Lance. 

Shiro sat down and pulled Lance into his lap. He was still at a loss for what to do or how to help the blue paladin. He had an idea of what was wrong, but didn’t know for sure, so he was treading very lightly. Shiro was worried about saying or doing something wrong and making it worse. 

Keith sat up and moved closer, so he could put a hand on Lance’s thigh. 

“Why don’t we lay down?” Keith suggested, whispering so he didn’t startle Lance. 

It took a bit of work because Lance didn’t release his grip on Shiro at all, clutching onto the black paladin for dear life. But eventually they got comfortable. Shiro laying on his back with Lance curled up against Shiro’s chest, and Keith lay to the side of them, trying not to fall off the bed. 

As it was the bunks were not made for two people to sleep in, let alone three. It was a tight squeeze, but it was worth it when Lance finally fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning at breakfast Lance kept his head down. His eyes were still red from crying into Shiro’s chest because of his fears. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to pry into what was wrong. 

When Coran came bounding in he was thrilled to see how well Lance’s arm had healed. It was better than he had hoped. And after his second stay in the healing pod, along with help from Shiro and Keith, Lance was able to move much better on his own. He was still not back at one hundred percent, but there was definitely a large improvement over how he was the day before. 

Training followed shortly after breakfast. It was a while since they had trained as a full team. Allura as insistent that they needed to bond as a team again, and learn how to fight as a team again. Especially since Lance needed to learn how to fight missing his left arm, but she left that reason to herself. 

Just like when they originally trained together to bond they worked on watching each others backs. From the observation room Coran released the flying robots and paladins readied themselves. 

Lance didn’t feel confident, but he would do it for his friends. He was a paladin of Voltron after all, and he needed to be prepared for anything. So he raised his shield like everyone else and prepared to defend everyone. 

At first they were doing good. As a team they protected each others backs. They were doing fine, until Shiro took a large step left to block a blast from hitting Pidge, leaving a larger gap between him and Lance. 

The robots took the opportunity and fired at Keith’s back. On instinct Lance threw his left arm and deactivated the shield on his right arm to switch arms – something he could not do anymore. 

Keith ended up being nailed in the back and dropped through the floor. Seconds later Lance got hit in the chest and the floor dropped out from under him too. 

As soon as he landed Lance ripped off his helmet and threw it across the little room. 

“Damn it!” Lance shouted and punched the floor. 

“Lance, what happened?” Keith asked, crawling over to him from where he’d landed a few feet away. 

The blue paladin didn’t answer, just put his head on his knees. 

Before more could be said Hunk landed across the room from them. A few seconds later Shiro dropped, followed quickly by Pidge. 

“Paladins, come back up here please. We need to talk,” Allura said over the intercom. 

Hunk and Pidge picked themselves up and headed back up to the training room. Shiro, on the other hand, headed over to where Keith and Lance were sitting. 

“What happened?” he asked, offering both his hands to his seated boyfriends. 

“I don’t know. I got hit in the back,” Keith said, getting to his feet. 

“It’s my fault. I can’t protect anyone,” Lance whimpered. 

“How is it your fault?” Shiro asked, crouching in front of Lance. 

“I tried to block with my left arm,” Lance said, dejected; “That’s how Keith got hit, then I left myself open and got hit myself.”

“Oh Lance. That’ll just take time. You just need to retrain yourself to fight in a different way” Shiro said, putting his hand on Lance’s shoulder; “Let’s go try again.”

With a sigh Lance got up and put his helmet back on. He followed his boyfriends back up to the training deck and got back to work. 

Unfortunately, there was no significant improvement.


	9. Chapter 9

Lance was deteriorating. He didn’t trust himself anymore. 

He refused to leave blue in a fight. Everyone else thought it was fear of being recaptured that kept him in his lion. It wasn’t though. Lance didn’t trust his skills in a fight anymore. He didn’t trust his instincts and was sure someone was going to get hurt because of him – because of a mistake he made. 

Thankfully in those three weeks they only had about a dozen fights. That was light, considering they were trying to save the universe. 

In that time Hunk and Pidge worked hard on the prosthetic. Everyone hoped it would help Lance feel better, but knew it wouldn’t fix everything. 

So one night when Keith, Shiro and Lance were laying down watching a movie Shiro snuck off to collect Hunk and Pidge. 

“Keith, can you pause the movie?” Shiro asked, leaning over the back of the couch. 

“Sure, Lance sit up. We’ve got something for you,” Keith agreed, sitting up and pausing the movie like Shiro had asked. 

Confused, Lance sat up and stared at his boyfriends. Shiro waved Hunk and Pidge in before walking around the couch to sit beside Lance. 

“When we found out you were going to loose half your left arm I knew it would be hard. And I blamed myself, because I couldn’t help you. So I immediately went to talk to Pidge. Together we created a design that they built with Hunk,” Shiro explained, as Hunk and Pidge stepped up in front of Lance. 

“You don’t have to use it, but it might make things easier,” Hunk said, placing the box in his best friends lap.

Lance gave everyone a sceptical look, before lifting the lid. At first sight of the prosthetic he dropped the lid and his jaw dropped too. 

“Guys, did you really?” Lance asked, just staring at the box. 

“If you don’t like it...” Shiro started. 

“Stop that. I love this. It’s amazing. Thank you,” Lance said, moving the lid again. 

“If Keith moves I’ll help you put it on,” Pidge said. 

“Please,” Lance said, finally looking up. 

Keith moved out of the way quickly, hopping over the back of the couch. He leaned over the back of the couch, and wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulders. At the same time Pidge took Keith’s seat and grabbed the prosthetic from the box. 

It took close to an hour to put on and be working to Pidge’s standards. Most of the time was actually hooking it up to Lance. In order for him to have full range of motion and sensory input parts had to be connected to muscles and nerves. 

There was pain, but it was worth it. To have Lance smiling again made all the time and effort worth it. 

“Thanks you guys,” Lance said, once it was all hooked up; “This really means the world to me.”

Everyone expected him to crack a joke or something else very Lance. No one expected the hugs. 

For Lance being able to hug his friends, and boyfriends, was what he really enjoyed being able to do again. Barely edging out finger guns, because who didn’t love finger guns. Lance did, almost as much as he loved Keith and Shiro. 

THE END


End file.
